Jim Nolan's Blog

1925 Buffalo Forge Catalog Cover

I love the typography of the "Buffalo." It looks like steel mesh to me. Note how varied the product offerings were. 

Canedy-Otto Western Chief Drills

From a Canedy-Otto catalog posted at roseantiquetools.com. What a beautiful layout and the illustrations are amazing. Note the red "hand" stamp that indicates the position of the ball bearings. These drills look indestructible, don't they?   

1907 Buffalo Ball Bearing Drills

A beautifully art directed full-page ad from a 1907 American Blacksmith Magazine, found digitized in Google Books. Canedy-Otto made similar drills; I read a comment on a blog from someone who uses one from the same era and said it still works amazingly well. They were built to last, apparently.

Buffalo Forge Tire Upsetter

I found this ad digitized by Google Books in a 1907 edition of American Blacksmith Magazine. So Buffalo Forge, at this time, was making more than forges. And, like Canedy-Otto, they also made drills. According to Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary (1882 edition, also found digitized on Google Books), a tire upsetter is "a machine for shrinking tires without cutting. A tire is heated and then forcibly compressed endwise, so as to thicken it in one part and shorten it. It is then, while yet hot, placed on the wheel and shrunk in position." Where was American Blacksmith published? In Buffalo's famous Prudential Building, designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. 

Friend's MS Kungsholm Ashtray

Photo by: Hans Baldauf

Upon learning that my great friend Hans's son was interested in ocean liners, I mentioned this blog's posts about the Swedish ships MS Kungsholm and MS Stockholm. Hans mentioned that he had an ashtray with what he believed to be the Kungsholm on it. I'm pretty sure it is. Compare with the postcard photo below. What do you think?

Western Chief Blower Size G

Beautiful art direction and copywriting from an early Canedy-Otto catalog found posted on roseantiquetools.com. After reading this, how could you even consider a competitor's Big Wheel Blower?

Royal (Steel) Forge No. 35

IKEA wasn't the first to have the idea of packing products flat. Look at how small a forge can get from transport at the top of the right-hand page. From a Otto-Canedy catalog found on roseantiquetools.com. 

Western Chief Forge and Ordering Notice

From a Canedy-Otto catalog posted at roseantiquetools.com. I love the art direction, the pages are beautifully composed. A hundred years before Adobe InDesign, they still knew how to make a spread look great.

Royal Steel Forge Factory Illustration

A scan from an old Canedy-Otto catalog (Forges, Blowers Drills, Price List No. 8) I found online here at roseantiquetools.com. Canedy-Otto was a Buffalo Forge competitor with their own proud heritage. The catalog pages are beautifully art directed. As in the Buffalo Forge factory illustration posted earlier, smoke belches proudly from the smokestacks. Thanks to Rose Antiques for posting this amazing catalog and to the website iforgeiron.com for posting a link to it. 

Royal Steel Forge, A Competitor to Buffalo Forge

A scan sent to me from Phil Marino of another brand of forge from around 1925. It has less description than the Buffalo Forge catalog. You can see a video I found of the blower on YouTube below. Thank you Zosoacero for filming this!